Manelick de la Parra Wins peermusic Latin Scholarship

Ralph N. Jackson, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc., has announced that Manelick de la Parra is the winner of the second annual peermusic Latin Scholarship, a competition for original Latin songs and instrumental compositions. De la Parra, a 22-year-old native of Mexico and a senior at Berklee College of Music, received a $5,000 scholarship for his song, “Me Toco Amarte.” The presentation took place during the BMI Latin Awards ceremony held in Las Vegas on April 21.

Ralph N. Jackson and Manelick de la Parra

This new BMI Foundation scholarship was established in 2003 through the generosity of Ralph Peer II and the peermusic companies for students between the ages of 16 and 24 from schools in California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Puerto Rico and Texas. This year’s judges included Latin Grammy President Gabriel Abaroa, peermusic’s Julio Bague, SZG Entertainment’s George Zamora, and BMI’s Dianne J. Almodovar and Porfirio Pina. Founded by Ralph Peer in 1928, peermusic is a global network of music publishing companies operating from 33 offices in 27 countries. With well over a quarter of a million titles in the company’s catalogue, and songs that vary from country, blues, jazz and pop to Latin, concert and rock ‘n’ roll, peermusic is the largest privately owned company of its kind in the world. The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1985 to support the creation, performance and study of music through awards, scholarships, commissions and grants. Tax-deductible donations to the Foundation come primarily from songwriters, composers and publishers, BMI employees and members of the public with a special interest in music. Because both the Foundation staff and the distinguished members of the Advisory Panel serve without compensation, over 95% of all donations and income are used for charitable grants.